Narrator: Yu Qingzhu, General Manager, Hainan Simcere Parmacuetical Co., Ltd.

Seventeen months. That is how long it took for this life-saving drug to go from its U.S. launch to approval in the Chinese market. The time required was cut by nearly two-thirds. After being approved for production in Hainan, it was quickly included in the national medical insurance catalog. As a result, the price per dose fell to less than 5 percent of its original level. How was this achieved?

As is well known, chemotherapy is a cornerstone therapy for many cancers. However, over 70 percent of patients experience varying degrees of myelosuppression, which severely affects their quality of life. These patients are in urgent need of a new drug to help alleviate their suffering.

In February 2021, Cosela was launched in the U.S. It puts a "bulletproof vest" on the bone marrow, greatly alleviating the toxic side effects of chemotherapy. But its price was as high as $1,400 a dose.

Could it be brought into China and its price driven down?

Unlike importing a car or an item of clothing, introducing a new drug normally requires Phase I and Phase III clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy before it can enter the domestic market. This process usually takes three to five years.

The pilot policies of the Hainan Free Trade Port have effectively addressed these challenges. In June 2021, Cosela was used clinically for the first time in China in Hainan's "medical special zone," less than four months after its U.S. approval.

The real-world data accumulated during the pilot process significantly shortened the approval time. In July 2022, Cosela received approval for the Chinese market.

Backed by China's massive market, Hainan has not only become the landing point for more and more overseas innovative drugs and medical devices, but also a magnet for global innovation. This is driving local enterprises to move from "product introduction" toward "local production" and "joint R&D," steadily climbing the global industrial chain.

In April 2024, Simcere Pharmaceutical achieved localized production of Cosela, with a retail price of 466 yuan ($64) per dose and an annual production capacity of 2 million doses. This year, another new anti-insomnia drug introduced by the company has been launched in China and is expected to be manufactured in Hainan in 2026. In the future, these drugs will also be supplied to markets in Europe and America.

With the official launch of island-wide special customs operations at the Hainan Free Trade Port, the dividends of efficient domestic-international market connectivity will be further unleashed. Cross-border R&D collaboration, along with lower raw material procurement and drug distribution costs, will provide full-chain support for the "fast introduction, fast production, and fast global expansion" of innovative drugs.

Today, more and more new and effective drugs are following in Cosela's footsteps, embarking on a fantastic journey of launching in China, manufacturing in Hainan, and supplying the globe.